Chair of the Democracy Alliance, with a history of involvement in such leftwing enterprises as America Coming Together and the Fund for America

An Orange County, California native born in about 1964, Rob McKay Jr. is the son of Robert McKay Sr., a Sherman Oaks architect who, in the early 1960s, was hired by Glenn Bell to serve as president of the thriving Taco Bell food franchise. The elder McKay helped the company grow into a national chain and eventually (in 1978) sold his 10% share to PepsiCo, Inc. for an estimated $13 million.

Robert McKay Sr. was politically conservative, but his son—who holds a BA in political science and sociology from Occidental College and an MA in social and public policy from UC Berkeley—has used the inheritance from his father’s Taco Bell fortune to finance an array of leftist causes. Most notably, he established the McKay Family Foundation in January 1992 and became its president, a position he maintains to this day. Scarcely three months after the creation of this Foundation, the infamous Rodney King court verdict triggered the Los Angeles riots which killed more than 50 people, destroyed over 1,000 buildings, and caused at least $1 billion in property damage. The nascent McKay Foundation at that point devoted its philanthropy to helping rebuild the devastated city. Characterizing the riots as “a slap in the face by some serious reality,” McKay recalls: “My rude awakening to philanthropy was walking the streets around Florence and Normandie [L.A. neighborhoods] with National Guard escorts,” says McKay. “But there’s a limit to what charities can do. You also have to think about political strategy.”

Soon thereafter, McKay turned his attention to national politics. He was a self-described “founding board member” of America Coming Together (ACT), a George Soros-backed organization established in 2003 for the purpose of trying to thwart President George W. Bush's bid for re-election. It was reported by The Washington Post that in July 2003 McKay attended a secret meeting at Soros’s Long Island home, where he, Soros, and other top Democratic operatives strategized on ways they could achieve their shared political objectives. That year, the McKay Family Foundation donated $1 million to ACT.

In 2006 as well, DA established its Secretary of State Project (SoSP), an initiative aimed at installing Democrat-friendly secretaries of state in key battleground states. McKay became an important figure in this ongoing effort. In 2008 he donated $25,000 to SoSP, and in 2010 the McKay Foundation contributed $10,000.

In 2008 McKay was a strong supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. After Obama's election, McKay visited the White House eight times between January 2009 and September 2012. And when Obama ran for re-election in 2012, McKay again backed him enthusiastically. As a board member of the Priorities USA Action super PAC, McKay helped organize a $35,800-per-head, January 2012 fundraiser for Obama.